Adventists press issue of women’s ordination

Two U.S. regional groups of the Seventh-day Adventist Church have women pastors and are moving faster than the worldwide church on the issue.

The Pacific Union Conference, which includes California and four other western states, voted 79 percent to 21 percent at a special session on August 19 to “approve ordinations to the gospel ministry without regard to gender.”

Weeks earlier, the Maryland-based Columbia Union Conference, which includes eight mid-Atlantic states, adopted a similar change in its policy, with 80 percent in favor.